16-year-old dies in Elkhart shooting

ELKHART, Ind. - Ontario Brown Jr., a 16-year-old from Elkhart, died from a single gunshot to the head after a shooting this weekend.

Sergeant Chris Snyder of the Elkhart Police Department says, “We are following up on different leads we are getting a lot of information and our detectives have put in a lot a lot of time to get the pieces that they have.”

Snyder is referring to the pieces of a tragic puzzle that started Friday night, when shots rang out on the 300 block of Wagner Avenue in Elkhart.

That's where police found Brown lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his head, near the Washington Gardens apartments. Within hours he was on life support at South Bend Memorial Hospital.

“He was officially declared decease Saturday morning and they kept him on life support until they could meet with the family and talk about harvesting organs.” says Snyder

Brown's family did make the difficult decision to end his life, knowing his organs will save eight other people.

“Such a tragic event, for something like this to happen but we are starting to get cooperation with a lot of different people so our detectives are starting to put the pieces together,” adds Snyder.

The crime scene is no stranger to police or to abc57. Crews have covered countless shootings and gun violence erupting in the Washington Gardens apartments. Sergeant Snyder says it's one of many places they are working to patrol to keep the community safe.

“Violence can happen to anybody at anytime so we work with the community so we can prevent things like this happening and again we work with the community to solve things like this when they do happen.”

Currently the Elkhart Police Department does not have any suspects in custody. They ask if you have any information that you contact them at (574) 295-7070 or the tip line at (574) 389-4777.